photo © 2010 Ginny | more info (via: Wylio)

Make a note on your calendars. There are some great freebies happening in the first few days of March. 

March 1: IHOP is hosting its fourth National Pancake Day  from 7am-10pm. While the pancakes are free, the event is raising money for Children's Miracle Network. 

March 1: If you have a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf near you, stop into their spring open house from 4pm-7pm for free samples of either the Spring Peach Tea Latte, Spring Peach Iced Latte or Peach FruTea.

March 4: I love Chik fil A. They've hosted special military days in the past. Plus I appreciate that they are closed on Sundays. On Free FryDay, ask to try the new Heinz ketchup packet and get a free order of waffle fries. 

So much yumminess! And so much jiggly-ness if I take advantage of all of them! Do you know of any other freebies coming up? Leave them in the comments and I'll update the post.

*Always check with a location before you go.

Bloodroot and Holly's Inbox: Book Reviews

Last week I finished two books I really enjoyed, Bloodroot by Amy Greene and Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham. Bloodroot only took me three days to finish. I heard about it the books section of one of my magazines. I loved it! I don't know why I'm fascinated with stories whose characters have 'the touch' or some other mystical power. Same with books set in the south (location was part of the reason I loved The Help, too). This book has childhood friendships, familial loyalty and a little bit of tragedy. It's set in Appalachia and spans almost 50 years. I was sucked in within the first few pages. 

Holly's Inbox is set in Britain. Every book that came out after Bridget Jone's has had some type of comparison. This is one is called Bridget Jones meets technology. The story is told entirely through emails between Holly, her friends, her family and co-workers. It's not a small book at 672 pages but since it's not all text, it reads really fast. It's cute and funny just as chick lit should be. I have the sequel but am only about 20 pages in. Interesting side note, Holly Denham is the character's name. The author is actually a man. 

Both these books would be good beach reads.